WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of WisdomTree from $14.00 to $15.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of WisdomTree from $17.00 to $21.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on WisdomTree in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Zacks Research raised WisdomTree from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of WisdomTree in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.65.

WisdomTree Stock Performance

Shares of WT stock opened at $13.54 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $13.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.37. WisdomTree has a one year low of $7.47 and a one year high of $17.68.

WisdomTree (NYSE:WT) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The company reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by $0.06. WisdomTree had a net margin of 22.10% and a return on equity of 30.24%. The business had revenue of $147.43 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $142.78 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.17 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 33.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that WisdomTree will post 0.72 earnings per share for the current year.

WisdomTree Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 25th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 11th were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 11th. WisdomTree’s payout ratio is presently 16.00%.

Insider Transactions at WisdomTree

In related news, COO R Jarrett Lilien sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $16.84, for a total transaction of $505,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 1,140,245 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $19,201,725.80. This represents a 2.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 9.30% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On WisdomTree

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd grew its stake in shares of WisdomTree by 163.0% in the 4th quarter. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,454 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 1,521 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its stake in WisdomTree by 1,679.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,206 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 2,082 shares during the period. Quattro Advisors LLC bought a new position in WisdomTree in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. First Horizon Corp bought a new position in WisdomTree in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in WisdomTree in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.64% of the company’s stock.

WisdomTree Company Profile

WisdomTree Investments, Inc (NYSE: WT) is a U.S.-based asset management firm specializing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded products (ETPs). Founded in 2006 by Jonathan Steinberg and headquartered in New York City, WisdomTree has developed a reputation for pioneering smart-beta and fundamentally weighted indexing approaches. The company designs strategies that seek to enhance returns and reduce volatility by weighting constituents based on dividends, earnings or other financial metrics rather than relying solely on market capitalization.

WisdomTree offers a broad suite of investment products covering equities, fixed income, currencies, commodities and digital assets.